Late Thursday night, the Washington House of Representatives passed a bill banning the use of flame retardants TCEP and TDCPP. These toxic flame retardants are commonly found in children’s clothing and furniture, but end up in our air and waterways. The bill, Toxic Free Kids and Families Act HB1294, would go into effect on July 1, 2015, but still needs to pass the State Senate.

Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network and Sno-King Marine Mammal Response strongly support the work of Washington Toxics Coalition and this act. Toxic chemicals in our waterways affect all living things, most especially that of our marine life. A 2005 study showed the harbor seals of South Puget Sound were 7 times more contaminated than those living in Canada's Georgia Strait. Biologists use tissue samples from both live and dead seals to monitor the health of the Sound, measuring levels of PCBs, flame retardants, pesticides and other highly toxic chemicals.

While a ban of PCBs has reduced those toxins in recent years, the number of chemicals used in flame retardants (including those known as PBDEs) have greatly increased. Studies show that PBDE concentrations have been doubling every 3.5 years and have even been detected in the high Arctic. Contaminants are stored in the blubber of marine mammals at the top of the food chain, such as dolphins, seals and orcas. The Southern Resident orcas are among the most contaminated marine mammals in the world. These toxins pass from generation to generation through the milk of mothers to their offspring. Humans, of course, are also at the top of the food chain - and those who consume fish from these toxic waters have high contaminant loads.

Harbor seal pups from our area, the Main Basin of Puget Sound, are more highly contaminated with PCBs and PBDEs than other areas of Puget Sound. Sadly, because seal pups are so contaminated, they are considered the ideal subject for these studies.

Exposure to flame retardants causes physical abnormalities (including that of the brain, impairing the development of motor activities and cognition), behavioral changes, impairs reproduction and causes immune disorders.

The passage of the Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act HB 1294 is a major step forward in reducing the devastating impact of flame retardants in our waters. Congratulations to Washington Toxics Coalition and their partners for this major achievement. The bill must now go before the State Senate. Please contact your senators here to let them know you support this act! Ensure that Washington State is the first in the nation to ban these flame retardants.

Read more about our polluted waters on Seal Sitters website. Seal Sitters’ Year of the Seal educational outreach project will focus on the health of our marine ecosystem and the harbor seal as the sentinel species representing the marine life of Puget Sound.

Tags: pollution

Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network and the Alki Community Council (ACC) are teaming up to organize a beach cleanup on Monday, May16th from 9am-noon. Kristin Wilkinson, NOAA NW Stranding Expert, will speak briefly at 9 about the dangers that human trash and marine debris poses to all marine life, from the tiniest of invertebrates to the largest of whales. As many of you may remember, the necropsy of the gray whale that stranded and died on a West Seattle beach last April revealed a stomach void of food, but full of trash - plastic bags, funnel, golf ball, duct tape, sweat pants. For a complete list of items (courtesy of Cascadia Research who led the whale necropsy), click here. Trash that ends up on our beaches inevitably ends up in our marine waters - causing injuries and death to marine life, often by suffocation or strangulation. For more in-depth information on marine pollution, please visit the pollution page on Seal Sitters’ website, Toxic Seals - Our Polluted Waters.

NOAA has produced several children’s activity booklets about marine debris that are available here for download: Protect the Ocean and Understanding Marine Debris. Both contain puzzles and illustrations that help kids understand the importance of keeping the beaches and marine waters free of trash - so that sea life will be here for many generations to come!

Thanks to the Americorps (Washington Reading Corps of South King County) volunteers who will be participating in the beach cleanup as well as members of ACC and Seal Sitters. This event is open to the public and all those interested in making a difference for the environment. If you, your group, or class would like to lend a hand, meet us at the Statue of Liberty across from Starbucks (Alki Ave SW near 61st) at 9am. If you have questions, please contact Larry Carpenter @ 206-938-0887. Special thanks to Carol Baker and Colleen Hackett of Seattle Parks for providing cleanup tools. Tully’s, Starbucks and Pioneer Coffee are all generously donating coffee to keep our volunteers warm and energized throughout the morning. We hope to see you there!

Tags: pollution, marine debris, stranded gray whale, whale necropsy

During a scan of the beaches looking for seal pups early this morning, our volunteer instead found two balloons tied with long ribbons floating in the surf. This is a reminder to everyone of the dangers of trash in our waters. Balloons are especially harmful - marine mammals mistake them for jellyfish, ingest them and then die a slow and painful death. Please remember if you have a party near the beach, destroy any balloons and dispose of them properly. Never release helium balloons into the sky as they will inevitably end up in the Sound, putting our seals and other animals in grave danger.

Tags: pollution

On her 6am beach sweep this morning looking for seals, our photographer and first responder was shocked and angered to find Alki Beach by the bathhouse littered with trash. Four barrels were surrounded by garbage - paper plates smeared with ketchup and mustard, cups, plastic bags, plastic forks, plastic coke bottles. Seagulls were picking through the litter trying to find food. Small plastic ketchup packets were strewn over the sidewalk and beach. Our volunteer picked up all the trash that was scattered on the beach and along the water’s edge. The irony did not escape her when she picked up paper wrappers labeled “Spud’s Fish and Chips” on virtually the same spot of beach where our first seal pup, Spud (named for the restaurant), hauled out.

After the high profile and disturbing necropsy of the gray whale whose stomach was filled with human trash (ranging from sweat pants and plastic bags to a golf ball - photo at left), one would hope that it would have been a wake-up call to people of the dangers of polluting our waters - and the tragic impact it has on our marine mammals and other wildlife. Countless sea birds have died worldwide with stomachs full of plastic bottle caps. Litter that is on the sidewalk and beaches blows into Puget Sound and Elliott Bay, becoming marine debris that harms sea life. There is a swirling mass of plastic trash twice the size of Texas in the Pacific ocean, dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Please consider getting involved to help keep our West Seattle beaches and coves free of dangerous litter. Last spring, after reading on our website that seals and other marine mammals ingest plastic bags and suffer an agonizing death, second grader Etienne and her Bush Middle School class organized a beach cleanup field trip to Alki Beach. Perhaps other local schools would like to follow suit. If you run or walk along Alki with friends, take a few minutes before or after your exercise and pick up some litter. Parks Dept. can only do so much and they don’t have staff on early weekend mornings or in the evenings. If you have a business on Alki (or are involved with a local school or civic group) and would like to work with Seal Sitters to organize “Adopt Alki Beach” for a day a week/month, please contact us. Something needs to be done now to protect our wildlife from pollution.

Tags: gray whale, whale necropsy, pollution, marine debris

Yesterday the necropsy results were released for the gray whale that stranded in West Seattle. The Northwest Stranding Network team that performed the necropsy found an unusual amount of human trash in the stomach of the whale - plastic bags, surgical gloves, sweat pants, other plastic and fabric pieces, and a golf ball. As part of the Stranding Network, Seal Sitters’ first responder was invited to help document, however, could not publicly discuss the necropsy until the official results were released. Read Cascadia Research’s necropsy summary and findings here and a full list of items found in the whale’s stomach.

The public should give many thanks to the necropsy team for performing this incredibly important and physically strenuous work. Due to their dedication and efforts, we are now aware of the role that pollution may have played in the death of this whale - as it indeed impacts all our marine life. Plastics that end up in our waters never go away - they eventually end up as micro particles which absorb contaminants and enter the marine food chain, causing deformities and disease. It is well known that our local seals and orcas are laced with pcbs and other toxic chemicals. Depletion of food sources caused by commercial overfishing and pollution can be reversed by getting involved. You CAN make a difference - pick up trash on the beach, don’t purchase seafood on the seafood watch list and ask your grocer not to sell it, help clean up the Sound.

As an observer, our volunteer was stunned at the amount of trash that was removed from the whale - and overwhelmed with sadness that human impact had, in any way, contributed to this whale’s demise. Please learn more about our polluted waters and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an oceanic swirling mass of plastic twice the size of Texas, on Seal Sitters’ website. Educate people about the dangers of pollution and its tragic impact on our wildlife now and for generations to come. Make a commitment that this magnificent whale’s life was not given in vain.

See news video here.
Read Lynda Mape’s excellent article in the Seattle Times.

Tags: stranded gray whale, whale necropsy, pollution, marine debris